Automatic cable-take-up device.



APPLICATION F-ILED IAN. 25, i913.

ntd July 3l. 19m 3 SHEETS-SHtETl NTI LZBSQQ @Vi/mes sco H. S- A'TKINSN & H. l. BRENUN.

AUTOMATIC CABLE TAKE-UP DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED IAII. 25. |913.

Patented July 3l, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2,

wwwa/wao 3 wu@ whom www MLM 33%, fie/,awozw H. S. ATKINSON & H. l. BRENDLIN.l

AumMATlc CABLE TAKE-UP DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED 1AN.25, 1913.

Patented July 3l, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3 UNTTED sTATEs PATENT oFrucE.

HERBERT S. ATKINSON, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, AND HERMAN J". BRENDLIN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNORS T0 THE HAYWARD COMPANY, OF YORK, N. Y.,

A. CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

AUTOMATIC CABLE-TAKE-UP DEVICE.

To all 'whom it may concern.'

Be it known that we, HERBERT S. ATKIN- soN, a citizen of the United States, residing at East Orange, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, and HERMAN J. BREND- LIN, a citizen of the United States, residingv at New -York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented ,oertain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Gable-Take-Up Devices, of which the followingis a full, clear, and exact specication, such aswill enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make ,and use the same.

This invention relates to a device for automatically taking up slack in, and paying out, cables for excavating buckets, and is more especially designed for use in connection with an electrically operated bucket, such, for example, as illustrated in the ap-A plication for patent of Herbert S. Atkinson, Serial No. 735,183 filed December 6th, 1912,

wherein'wire conductors are employed for conducting the electrical current to and from the motor on the bucket from a more or less distant operating point. In using such a bucket, where there is a considerable rise and fall in thevertical operating movements-v thereof, a take-up vdevice for taking up the slack inthe electrical conductors is quite essential.

While our invention is more especially de- -signed for use in connection with a bucket of the character above mentioned, we desire it to be understood that it is not limited thereto, but is capable of other uses, as,I for example, .in taking up slack in, and paying out, a tag line frequently employed in connection with an ordinary line-operated hoisting bucket, wherein no electrical' conductors are used.

The object ofour invention is to provide .g

a take-up device of the character stated, in-

cluding means on said devicewhereby, when it is used to takeup slack' in a cable formedv -of one or more electrical conductors, elec.

trical contacts are provided between the terminals on a movable or rotating part of the device and stationary terminals forming the terminals of the conductors employed for transmitting the electrical currentfrom a',

v Specification. of Letters Patent.

Patented July 31,1917.

Application led January 25, 1913. Serial No. 744,088.

energy-storing means for automatically actuating the rotatable part of said device,

with convenient means for increasing or de` creasing the amount of energy so stored.

A further object of our invention is to provlde an automatic take-up device so constructed that no damage can result to the apparatus in case of sudden release of'the tension normally exerted thereon by the pull I of the cable, due to accidental breakage or otherwise.

Other objects, such 'as economy of construction, simplicity of parts, and facility of adjustment and operation will be readily apparent from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure l is a side elevation of the device;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the device on line 2 2- of Fig. 3, with certain parts shown in elevation;

Fig. 3 is an elevation from the Aside oppo site that shown in Fig. l;

Fig. 4L is an enlarged detail on line 4--4 of Fig. 3, with certain parts omitted;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail section on line 5 5 of Fig.3;

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of `one ofthe wire connectors;

Fig. 7 isa plan of the view'shown in Fig. 6; and

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view showing one application of the device, as used with an electrically operated bucket.

Referring to thelconstruction illustrated,

A indicates a base plate, to which are bolted, at each end thereof, a support or stanchion B., B, the upper portion of each of which is apertured to form a journal-bearing B2, .B3 for a shaft C mounted therein. One end of the shaft C is provided with a ratchet ear C', rigidly secured thereto, engaging the teeth of which ratchet is a pawl C2, secured tothe support or stanchion B at C",

which pawl normally prevents rotation of l said ratchet and shaft in one direction but permits rotation in the other. Loosely loo mounted upon the shaft C is a lever C4, se-

cured to which, at C5,'is`a pawl C", which is adapted to actuate, through said lever, the ratchet gear C in one direction, but which `is free to slip over the teeth of said gear `in the opposite direction.

'Mounted upon the shaft C is a hollow Ais secured to the inner end of drum member D provided With flanged side plates D', D2. bout the drum member D may be coiled a cable indicated at E (which in this instance is formed of a plurality of electrical conducting Wires), which latter, at its inner end, is projected through an opening E' in the periphery of the drum member D, and through an opening E2 in the side D' of said drum member. after passing through the opening E2 is separated into its individual components, comprising the insulated wires F, G, H, I, which are respectively connected, by means of the connectors F', G', H', Ito a series of electrical conducting rings J, K, L, M, which rings are properly insulated, as indicated at N in Fig. 4, and are rigidly held in position, and to the drum member D, by means of a plurality of bolts indicated at O, P, Q, R.

The support B carries a bracket S Which, in turn, carries'a block S', to Which are secured a plurality of springs T, T', T2, T1, each of which springs respectively carry brushes T1. T5, TG, T1. Suitably mounted upon the block S', and properly insulated,

are a plurality of binding posts T8, T2, T1, T11, to which binding posts may be connected a plurality of electrical conducting Wires T12, T13, T11, T15, through which Wires and binding posts, and through the springs T, T', T2, T3, and through the brushes T4, T5, T6, T1, electrical current may be transmitted to and from the conducting rings J, K, L, M.

The Vdrum member D is held in position on the shaftC, at one end, by means of the nut U, held by the screwv U', and, at the other end, by means of a shoulder U2 on the support B.

The automatic means tor actuating the drum to take up slack in the cable E comprises a spring liiattery Within the drum member D, consisting ot' the coiled springs V, V', V2, the first named ciiic is, at its inner end, secured to tl late V1, by means ci the pin V1', forms a part'of, and is member V1, keyed to the shall, if,

of the set screw V6.

a hub spring V is, by means ot' the pin V1., secured f t0 a case-plate V1, which latter s secured, by the pin V(J to the inner end ot' the spring V', the outer end ot the spring V', being secured by the pin V10, to a caseplate V11, Which case-plate. by means of tbc pin V11, the spring V2, said spring, at its outer ein beingl secured, by the pin V13, to the "1 et' the drum member D, the arrangcinf such that when the shatt (l is r 1 direction of the arrow, as indien l, the eiiect is to carry therewith` the plate V3 and thereby Wind up vthe cui spring V, Which when suiiicient tension' is placed thereon, rotates with the shaft C The cable E, f

and carries therewith the case-plate V8, which latter, in turn, Winds up the coiled spring V', and when the tension on it is sufficient, it rotates With the shaft C and carries thereby the case-plate V11, which, in its rotation, Winds up the coiled spring V2, the tension exerted by all of said springs being transmitted to the drum member D to rotate the latter, as occasion requires.

lVhen the vshaft C is rotated to Wind up the springs V, V', V2, the drum D may be held stationary by means of a pin W, carried bythe support B, and adapted to be moved into one of a series of apertures W', on the flange of the siderplate D2 of the drum D, said pin W being normally retracted from p/perative position by means of the spring 2 Referring to Fig. 8 of the drawings, Y indicates, in Whole, a hoisting bucket, the holding and hoisting line of which is indicated at Y', thel opening and closing mechanism of which bucket is actuated by an electric motor Y2, to Which motor electrical current is transmitted by a cabley Y2, said cable being connected to the drum member D of the take-up device herein illustrated and described. i lt Will be understood that current is supplied to the bucket through one of the Well known forms of electric controller, as indi cated at Y1 in Fig. 8, from which it passes to the take-up device through the cable indicated at Y5. It Will be further understood that each ot the Cables shown at Y3 and Y5 in 8, comprises a group of electrical Wires. The cable Y5 when separated into its constituents being illustrated in Fig. 5` at T12, T12, T11, T11, which are respectively connected to the binding posts T8, T9, T10, T11, the current then going to and from the conductingrings J, K, L, M, and thence to the conducting Wires F, G, H, I, Which latter pa through the opening E2, and thence, in the torni ci the cable E, around the drum member D. Y

. .es the bucket, indicated at Y in Fig. 8 is hoisted and lowered, the slack in the cable Y1, which would normally result from the hoistig movement, is taken up by the autovnati; actuation of the drum member D of ble Y3, no harm can result to the mecl1a' nism-as would be the case were the springs mnnected to a fixed shaft,-s1nce, in such contingency, the shaft' being free to turn in message one direction indeinitely and the ratchet and pavvls acting in one direction only, the shaft, drum and springs, in case of such breakage, would spin until rested, and acceleration of the drum, due to its momentum, would have no damaging effect upon the springs.

What We claim is:

l. In a device of the class described, the combination of a cable, a drum member to which an end of said cable is secured, a shaft for rotatablyl supporting said-drum member axially, tension means connected to lsaid shaft and to said drum member Within and for rotating the latter, an upright support provided with bearings for said shaft, ratchet mechanism secured to said shaft, means on said support adapted to prevent rotation of said shaft in one direction, a crank juxtaposed to said shaft, and means on said crank engaging said ratchet mechanism for causing rotation of said shaft in the opposite direction, vvhereby said shaft, in case of undue acceleration of said drum member in Winding, is capable of freely rotating in the same direction as the direction of Winding movement of said drum member, such free rotation of the shaft, on undue acceleration of the drum member, being due to the Weight and mementum of the drum member in its Winding movement.

2: In a device of the class described, the combination of a cable, a drum .member to which said cable is secured, a shaft rotatably supporting said drum member axially, a spring connected to said shaft and to said drum member within and for rotating the latter, an upright support provided With bearings for said shaft, ratchet mechanism on said shaft, means on said support adapted to prevent rotation of said shaft in one direction, and a crank-actuated pavvl engaging said ratchetvmechanismfor causing ro- -tation of said shaft in the opposite direction,

whereby said shaft, on undue acceleration of said drum member, may be capable of free movement in the direction 'of Windin movement of the drum member, such free movement of said shaft, on undue acceleraw tion of the drum member, being due to the Weight and momentum of the drum member in its Winding movement.

combination of a cable, a drum member to which said cable is connected, a shaft rotatably supporting said drum member axially, an upright support provided with bearings for said shaft, a plurality'of coiled springs Within said drum member and connected thereto and also connected to said shaft, avratchet gear secured to said shaft, a pavvl'fen said support engaging said ratchet gear and preventing rotation of said shaft in one direction, a crank juxtaposed to said shaft, and a paWl on said crank. engaging said ratchet gearto actuate said shaft in the opposite direction, whereby said shaft, in case of undue acceleration of the drum member, may be free to move in the direction of Winding movement of the drum member, such free movement of said shaft, on undue acceleration of thev drum member, being due to the Weight and momentum of the drum member in its Winding movement.

4. In a device ofthe class described, the

combination of a cable, a drum member to Which said cable is connected, a shaft for rotatably supporting said drum member, f

tension means connected to said shaft and to said drum member for rotating the latter, a support provided With bearings for said shaft, and pawl and ratchet mechanism connected to said support and to said shaft for rotating the latter to increase or decrease the tension of said tension means, said mechanism permitting said shaft to freely rotate in the direction of Winding movement of the drum member on undue acceleration of the latter, such free rotation of the shaft, on undue acceleration of the drum 9.0 member, being due to the Weight `and mo 'Y mentum of the drum member in'its Winding movement. g

5. ln a device of the class described, the combination of a cable, a drum member to which said cable is connected, a shaft for rotatably supporting said drum member,

tension means connected to said shaft and to said drum member for rotating the latter, a support'provided With bearings for said shaft, pavvl and ratchet mechanism connected to said support and to said shaft for rotating the latter to increase or decrease v the tension of said tension means, and means for holding said drum stationary When said mechanism is operated, said mechanism permitting said shaft to freely rotate in the direction of Winding movement of the drum member on undue acceleration of the latter. 3. In a device of the class described, the

HERBERT S. ATKINSON.

HERNAN J. BRENDLlN.

Witnesses: I

EUGENE S. MACDONALD, Lamm E. SMITH.' 

